"He [Redknapp] is a peerless motivator. You believe you are the best player in the world when he talks to you.

“Before matches he is very strong. When you go on the pitch you fear nothing. At the end of the match against Fulham, he came to me to say, ‘I told you that you were as good as [Dimitar] Berbatov’.”

It should be noted that when both were still at Spurs, Redknapp sold Taarabt to QPR for £1 million. So if he can even make Taarabt think he believes in him, then he really must be an unparalleled motivator. Of course, being able to say, "listen to me or I'll have Joe Jordan give you a kicking" probably helps too.